The ONE Shift That Gives You Hours Back—Without Working Harder
What if the secret to getting more done wasn’t working harder?
In this episode, The Girls of Grit™ reveal a game-changing shift that will help medical sales reps take back control of their time—without sacrificing performance. Lisa and Cindy break down the most common time-wasting habits that keep reps stuck in a cycle of burnout and busyness. They’ll share how small, intentional adjustments can add hours back into your week while making you a more effective salesperson.
If you’ve ever felt like there’s just never enough time, this episode is your wake-up call!
Episode Chapter Markers
00:00 Introduction: The Quest for More Time
02:07 The Reality of High Performance
02:32 Power Play Number Eight: Managing Time Like the Girls of Grit™
03:18 The Struggles of Balancing Work and Life
06:37 The Secret to Super Efficiency: Alignment
09:25 Actionable Strategies for Time Management
10:45 The Eisenhower Matrix
17:19 Flexibility and Adaptability
22:28 Self-Care and Reflection
Must-Hear Insights and Key Moments
The Trap of Being “Busy” Instead of Productive – Cindy and Lisa explain why being constantly busy isn’t the same as being effective—and how to shift from reactive to intentional work.
The ONE Shift That Frees Up Hours in Your Week – Discover the simple yet powerful change that will immediately transform how you manage your time and energy in sales.
How to Identify Your Biggest Time-Wasters – Learn how to spot the habits and tasks that drain your productivity and what to do instead.
The Mindset Shift Every Sales Rep Needs – Lisa and Cindy discuss the mental barriers that keep reps stuck in overwork mode and how to break free.
Tactical Strategies to Work Smarter, Not Harder – From smarter scheduling to leveraging the right tools, this episode is packed with actionable takeaways.
Words of Wisdom: Standout Quotes from This Episode
“Busy doesn’t mean productive. If you’re always reacting, you’re not in control of your time.” – Cynthia Ficara
“The biggest myth in sales is that working harder guarantees better results. It doesn’t.” – Anneliese Rhodes
“If you don’t set boundaries with your time, someone else will.” – Cynthia Ficara
“The reps who win are the ones who know how to focus on what actually matters.” – Anneliese Rhodes
“You don’t need more hours. You need better habits.” – Cynthia Ficara
“Sales isn’t about doing more—it’s about doing the right things.” – Anneliese Rhodes
“If you’re saying yes to everything, you’re saying no to your own success.” – Cynthia Ficara
“Reclaiming your time isn’t selfish—it’s necessary for long-term success.” – Anneliese Rhodes
“A full calendar doesn’t mean a full pipeline.” – Cynthia Ficara
“Work smarter, not harder—it’s not just a saying, it’s a strategy.” – Anneliese Rhodes
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Blog Transcript:
Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies
Cynthia Ficara: How many times have you found yourself saying, if there were only more hours in the day, or perhaps you've daydreamed about cloning yourself? Imagine being twice as productive as
Anneliese Rhodes: Shirley. You've whispered these dreaded words.
I just don't have the time. But what if we told you that doesn't have to be the case. Let's not waste another second and dive into today's episode.
Welcome everyone to another episode of Secrets and Medical Device Sales, brought to you by the Girls of Grit, and we are bringing you guys a fantastic episode today. I personally am really happy we're talking about this, Cindy, because I suck at it and you're really good at it.
Cynthia Ficara: But I think what's so fun about today is like, doesn't everybody wanna have more time in the day?
I mean, if anybody's listening and they disagree with me, then you have got, please, please DM us because there's something we're missing. And what is so fun is that today is all about the reality. You know, in our. Power plays. You know what we're really talking about is when you are a high performer and you've achieve achieved high levels or you are really trying to achieve a higher level, sometimes it's how do you go from good to great?
What can I do to intensify just one area to make it better? And that's the, hence, you know, the whole thing about a power play is you've got an advantage for two minutes. So how do we incorporate that in our day and today's. Topic is one of the most important topics when it comes to maximizing your outcome, but we wanted to make this as real as can be, and.
So today's episode, our power play number, this is number eight, correct?
Anneliese Rhodes: Yeah, it's eight. Yep.
Cynthia Ficara: Okay. Power play number eight is giving yourself time back in the day because we are managing time the way the girls of grit do. And revealing a special secret that puts a spin on it like nobody else does.
The Never-Ending Juggle: Work, Life, and the Chaos in Between
Anneliese Rhodes: Yeah, exactly. I, um. I'm really glad that this is part of the topics that we're covering and you know, again, I said this in one of the other episodes, but like every time we do this I'm like, oh yeah, I should be better at that. And this is one that I a hundred percent struggle with as I am sure you even struggle with from time to time, even though you're not as bad as me, but you know, oh yes I do.
It's hard to be a working. Mother, a working wife, a working partner, you know, a sister, all these things. As women, we handle not just our jobs, like there's other things going on. So personally for me, um, you guys know that I've got two kiddos and one doesn't drive. So guess what? I gotta have some nannies that help me out.
But it's also like the coordination between. What home the kid's gonna be at this week, what nights they're gonna be at their, their dad's versus my house, their activities. You know, my daughter has multiple activities going on, my son does as well. Then you, then you factor in dentist appointments, doctor's appointments, dinners every night, shopping list, lunches, breakfast.
And then, oh, by the way, you still have a full-time job that you need to be on top of and be like, mastering. So then you're getting calls from surgeons, you're getting calls from hospitals, you're getting emails, you've, you're driving to these accounts. So it's like. It's so easy, Cindy to be overwhelmed really quickly and lose hours of your day trying to put out little fires that I think after we go through this episode, I will even be better at prioritizing and making better.
Um, use of my days because I get up at five as it is. I don't wanna get up any earlier than that,
Cynthia Ficara: and I do too. And that's one of the keys. Push your time back in the day. But I think there's something in there that I think all of our listeners need to understand is the acceptance that we just have a lot on our plates and you need to give yourself grace because the whole reason we work. It's for our lives. And so if we can have you take away today to align how you put all of your priorities in the correct order. And you can be that great mom, great wife, great friend, great dog, mom, great cat, mom, great sister, daughter E, every bit one of your best friends. Because if we don't enjoy what we're doing, then why are we doing this?
And when we enjoy what we're doing, we give back so much better and we become that high performer that we really, really want to be. But I think. Guilt needs to go out the door. And it's a stereotypical comment, but I will say that there are many in this situation, and I'm not saying everybody is exactly what Lisa described is women become the CEO of their job, of their home of themselves.
Of life organization, you know, and especially when you have, so if you have toddlers, it's daycare and they need you to help put their shoes on, you know? Yeah. Then when they're teenagers, it's all different level of stress, and then even later, whatever stage of life you're in. You can make things out to be horrific or we can help you look at things more relative and just put everything that you really have on the plate and then let's all make it work because this is the one gift we're given as life and let's just live it to the best.
Anneliese Rhodes: Oh, that makes me feel so good, Cindy. Like, you totally just calmed down my mind. I'm like, Ugh. And already I feel a little bit more relaxed about my hectic day ahead, so. Alright, so do we reveal the secret yet, or do you wanna I think we.
Cynthia Ficara: Okay. Well you go Lisa. Let's, let's reveal it. I love it.
The Secret to Efficiency: Alignment is Everything
Anneliese Rhodes: Alright, well you kind of said it already and I know it's, I What's funny, I can't help it. It's okay. When you and I were chatting on the phone about this, you said the secret, I'm like, oh my gosh, this totally makes me think of something. So I'm gonna tell you guys a secret and then I'm gonna tell you the analogy that I use, which to me makes perfect sense. Mm-hmm. And hopefully to all of you, it will as well. So our secret of becoming super, super efficient with your time. Being aligned. It's alignment. So what does that mean? Well, alignment with your priorities. Alignment with, you know, what's going on at work versus what do you need to do at home versus what do you need to do for yourself personally. It's all about alignment.
And what made me think of something as an example is because of all the driving we do, and I do a lot, um. Dude, I've literally looked, I looked my car, my car isn't even four years old and I almost have 170,000 miles on it.
Cynthia Ficara: Mm-hmm. Welcome to Medical Device. Right? Welcome
Anneliese Rhodes: to Medical Device. Do you know what I tell people by the way? I tell people that I'm an overpaid truck driver, like literally. I delivery girl. I'm, dude, it's crazy. So anyhow, I am in the shop every like two to three months. I was just asking the guy, he's like, you bought so many oil changes. I'm like, well, how many do I have left? He goes, you bought like 20. He goes, I go, how many do I have left?
He goes, after this one you have five. I'm like, five. I've already run through 15 of these suckers. That is insane to me. So anyhow, uh, back to the story. Um, you know, every time you go to take your car in. They real, they switch out your tires to different areas, you know, which like the front one may go to the back one.
I guess if it's only an all wheel drive, I don't know. I drive an American car. Yes. So it is what it is, right? So, um, they also have to align the tire, like the alignment has to be right? Because as you guys know, when the alignment is off, your car starts to shift, it shakes, you know, when you get to a certain speed, you feel like, oh my god, the wheels might fall off.
Right? So. If you take that analogy now and place that in your life, if you aren't aligned correctly all of a sudden and you start going too fast and you're just throwing a bunch of stuff out and you're like, oh, I gotta do this, I gotta do that, da da da. You start to literally shake and now you're not gonna go anywhere.
And or if you are, you're off the alignment and there's a chance the wheels do come off and you lose your mind and you go crazy. And you know, at the end of the day, at least I do, at the end of the day, you're like. I can't get anything done. I feel like I am so overwhelmed. I have nothing left to give. And the truth is that can happen if you aren't prioritizing and aligning yourself the correct way.
So I am so happy we're talking about this today, Cindy, because I think this can be applied in any job. Oh yes. In any life situation that anything we face today.
Cynthia Ficara: I mean, nobody wants all the weight on the front, right. Tire. I mean, what will that do? Yeah, and then when? When, but tell me we don't feel this way.
There are some days we feel so weighted down and off and you just can't seem to catch up. And in all honesty, what does that do for you? I mean, does that really. Give you good frame of mind for good decision making. Are you really in your, your best self to go have a call with a customer? You know, are you able to really focus in a case that is so important that you are focusing on?
Right? So. It's all aligning. And so I think that one of the, um, a very common thing that people talk about, but maybe haven't identified as a title is when we, when we talk about differentiating between urgent and important tasks and that. Falls into prioritizing. And there's actually a word for that if, if you've never heard of this.
So, um, it's called the Eisenhower Matrix. And the Eisenhower Matrix is looking at urgent and important task. And many people focus on saying things like, oh, there's the 80 20 rule. I mean, you've heard people throw that out there, but if you really understand. That's when you are putting, you know, only 20% of the tasks that you are doing are really yielding about 80% of the results you have at the end of the day.
So you have to think of it that way, but align it, not put all the weight in one basket, but understand if you put the prioritization in the bucket of the 20%, that yields the return. And then you can lay out the other little. Tasks that fill the 80, it's kind of like the driving engine. You know, we talk about large targets where you get your quickest return, but then you always have to be, you know, filling your bucket.
You always have to be adding more accounts and that's your 80%. So you've got fast return in your 20, slow return in the 80. And I think that when we kind of talk about these things today, which actually. We're just going to give you five actionable steps to help with alignment, but I've been so excited to talk about prioritization.
I just jumped right into it. I know you so, 'cause I'm prioritizing what's important and then we're gonna talk about what's important. So, um, really just aligning your time, but not just your time. It's aligning your tasks, your priorities, but also what's important in that day. Yeah. How you feel that day.
Say you wake up and you feel like absolute crap. I mean, seriously, how many of us, like the flu is still going around. It is the end of the winter, but like there may be a day that you can't give it your all. So you've gotta prioritize what has to be done and what's not. Other days you're feeling great.
Yeah. You know, and then go gungho.
Anneliese Rhodes: Yeah, no, I agree. I, um, hang on. Can we pause for one second? My dog just walked in. Yes.
Cynthia Ficara: Hey, declutter. I need to, uh, reorganize what I said. So can we stop right after Lisa did the tire analogy and now I'm gonna jump back in and have it flow from there. Thank you so much, Lisa.
You are so right. I mean, none of us wanna have all the weight in one tire, right? And then it's off. Balance and think about that. This is what we do to ourselves. We put too much weight in one area that maybe we don't need to. Mm-hmm. So we don't want any of you to feel that way. We want you to get in your car today with all your tires aligned and your body aligned too.
So today's episode, we are going to give you. Five actionable strategies to help you align your day. All this factors into time management, but it aligns how you feel, how your work production, your home production as well. So beginning with numero uno, the very first actionable step, which is probably the most important step in aligning your day to have more hours and time to do everything you need to do.
Is prioritization. So I know that can be tough at times because how many people write a list and the list is like 10 things long, and then you have to figure out which are the top three, right? So me,
Anneliese Rhodes: I, I do that all the time and I'm like, oh, but this is important. Oh, but this is important. Oh, yes. I think you're perfect for explaining this, Cindy, because yeah, I hadn't.
I need help with that one.
Cynthia Ficara: I'm gonna give you a watch out. So when you make a list of say 10, what you don't wanna do is look at the 10 and be like, the ones you don't wanna do that are longer and harder. And then you just do the little tasks at the top that takes up just so you can cross it off the list.
Anneliese Rhodes: Oh, you know my secret, Cindy.
Prioritization: The 80/20 Rule in Action
Cynthia Ficara: So you gotta look at the 10 and you have to say. What absolutely has to be done today? Pick the top three. Most important to prioritize. So actually, I'm sure many of you have heard of the 80 20 rule. Okay? This actually has a real name for it and the name of it explains, it's called the Eisenhower Matrix.
So maybe Eisenhower was onto something. Okay? So this really helps you differentiate between urgent and importance. So what do I mean? So 80 20 rule really talks about 80% of your return on what you're doing only comes from 20% of the tasks that you are doing. And I think that's so important because you have to think when you have a list of 10.
Yeah, pull those top three. They're going to impact the most return in 20% of of your business. And so think about you have targets, right? You have maybe some accounts that you're already working with or accounts that you're trying to build that you can have a much. Faster return because maybe you're already on contract or you already have products in there.
You already know the doctors, you're gonna get a much faster return putting them in your 20% bucket. But we can't ignore the 80% other. The 80% is, is is your constant fuel to keep going, right? You're always planting new seeds. Some of that's cold calling, some of that is long-term. Maybe it'll take a year to get something to committee.
So when you look at that list of. 10 for the day. It is really important to help you align when you look at the 80 20 rule. But this is up to you. You are the one that has to prioritize and be honest with yourself and be like, just because I don't wanna do that doesn't mean it goes to the bottom of the list.
Because again, we're here to help you align your day. And if you take your. Your most fresh mind before you get distracted, before things change your mood and just know this is absolutely important, and if I get this done, this is gonna move my business. So a little bit of discipline in this. Put that time aside, block it to say, this is what I need to do.
It is the most important. I promise you a return if the only thing you do today is this. And then let me know.
Anneliese Rhodes: That's such a great, you know what, as you're sitting here telling this, I am thinking in my own head right about my own business, um, and what's happening mm-hmm. Right now in my territory and it's like.
You know, you, we all probably know the things that need to get done, the customers that you need to call on, the cases that need to get covered, the stuff that needs to get ordered, et cetera, et cetera. Some of that's really easy, right? Like some of that's pretty much just check the box and it will bring you a return at some point.
Some of it is stuff that we don't wanna do, and what I found really interesting is when you said the 80%, which is not bringing, okay, so the, the 20% gives you the 80% of revenue that I agree with. That would be like, you know, you convert. A hospital to using your product. That's probably gonna be a long game, but at the same time, it's a huge return.
Right? But then there's that other 80% that's kind of here and there, little twiddly things. And what I found interesting is you put cold calling into that and I, I love that because that's what that is, is something that's hard. Nobody wants to cold call, right? It's like, who the heck wants to go out and start doing sales calls one on one?
It's like, I'm not new here. I've been doing this for a while. But the truth is you do need to do the cold calling every single day or week on that list. Something new should be put into the bucket. Why? Because you have to fill your pipeline. And that was such a good point, Cindy, because that cold call may or may not bring in revenue.
I mean, it could be a quick hit. You never know. You might get super lucky with a new customer or it may bring you nothing, but the point is you still need to be doing it. So I love that you brought that up, because I never even thought about that till you were just talking.
Cynthia Ficara: Oh, well that's awesome. And that 80% can always shift and become part of your 20, right?
Absolutely. And it might not happen right away. Like you said, you might not get anything out of it. But don't forget when you cold call, you're going back every month. You know, they're not, they're, they're there on a day. You feel good. They're on a day that you have an extra bit of time, or you're passing by, or you need to, you know, wait two hours for something, you know?
But I think it's so important that they keep churning the engine because. That is what's going to build a really long career. So prioritizing is absolutely number one in aligning your day that you will really feel good about.
Anneliese Rhodes: I love that. And when you check things off that list, it feels really good too.
Alright, number two is goal setting. So we, we talk a lot about setting goals, you know, why are you doing this job? What is driving you sales wise, um, number wise, you know, why you're going to what customer for what. All of those things are really important. I think for me, this probably goes right along with the prioritization, right?
So if you are really concentrating on that 20%, that's gonna bring that 80% of revenue. What are your goals within that? So maybe it's just as simple as you need to get something through the VAT committee. Well, so your goal setting for that week with that specific customer product hospital is. Do the paperwork, get it done, and put into the right hands.
Send the emails or follow up. Did they have the meeting? Do you know what the answer is yet? If you got the answer, was it a yes or a no? If it was a no, now you need to go back and do some work. So that now moves on your prioritization list to maybe a different spot. And I think if I'm, and correct me if I'm wrong here, Cindy, but I'm thinking that every single thing needs to have its own goal.
Yes. Because not everything is the same, right. I mean. You may have a, like the cold calling example. You have a customer that you've been wanting to talk to and you can't seem to get in front of him or her in the office. So maybe you reset that goal and you say, okay, well if I can't get 'em there, then I'm gonna go to this meeting and I'm gonna set up a dinner with them and they can meet a VA VP of our company.
And then now we're gonna change that goal a little bit.
Breaking Big Goals into Achievable Steps
Cynthia Ficara: Absolutely. And you know, what you just said is, is really what we've talked about before is reverse engineering. You know, you have a big goal, break it into smaller ones, but how do we get to alignment with this step? It's about maintaining motivation and how else do we get motivated?
Then we can have a simple goal. If you make it so large, it's like, ugh, just gonna give up, you know? But you make it large, you break it down by quarter, you break it down by month. You break it down by week, and then it's. Exciting when you've hit hit the first step and now there's the motivation that, okay, this is the first step.
I may have more to go, but keeping yourself motivated will keep you aligned and making your goals very realistic. You know, again, when, when we talked about the alignment in this, it's, I just want this episode to really feel like. You are in charge. Yeah. And even though there's discipline involved in this to some extent, but give yourself grace, accept how you feel, but you've still got to stay on track and you'll stay motivated and be able to do it.
So number two, goal setting, I think that is, is really important to bring us into number three. Mm-hmm. So the third actionable step. And all women are either good at this, but need to remind themselves, and that's flexibility because when we talk about time management, it seems so disciplined, right? When people say it, it seems so structured and rigid.
But if you're able. To put a little bit of flexibility and cultivate that into your plans and adapt. My goodness, you are going to find more time in the day and really understand there's gonna be challenges and opportunity, but it's pivoting. It's adjusting your strategies that's looking at your day.
Right.
Anneliese Rhodes: Well, I was gonna say, give us a good example of that because I mean, I have a couple in my head, but I mean, well, go ahead. Well, I'm, you know, so let's just say, let's just say for example, that you're driving along. Which has happened to me. And all of a sudden With your line
Cynthia Ficara: tires. Yeah, exactly. With
Anneliese Rhodes: my line tires and a rock flies out of a semi and hits my windshield and I'm on my way to do safe
Cynthia Ficara: light repair.
Safe flight, replace Exactly.
Anneliese Rhodes: That was good actually for you. Your little
Cynthia Ficara: been there a lot.
Anneliese Rhodes: You're on pitch too. Um, so, but the, the truth is, is you're like, it's not all I
Cynthia Ficara: can sing.
Anneliese Rhodes: Well, heck, I mean, depending on the crack now, I will be honest. I drive around with a cracked windshield. A lot because I don't have the time here.
We are, don't have the time. But it is unsafe. It truly is.
Cynthia Ficara: And you're in Florida so it doesn't get cold and the crack doesn't grow overnight in the frost. No,
Anneliese Rhodes: it doesn't. Which
Cynthia Ficara: is
Anneliese Rhodes: really bad. So, um, but anyhow, so this has actually happened, right? I was, I was going to go make a, a really important customer call and a rock flew up and hit.
Actually, I don't even know if it was a rock. I think it was on something on the side of the road. Either way, I was headed to one of my accounts far away, like five hours away from me. Mm-hmm. And something on the side of the road flew up and hit my truck and it totally like dismantled the front part of my truck.
Right. The fender, the whole thing to the point where like it was hanging down and it was like in the, like I couldn't drive anymore. Mm-hmm. So I pull off the side of the road and I'm like, you've gotta be kidding me. I literally have to go today. I've called this customer, they're. This was a doctor I was trying to get in front of.
He was at the office that day. I had lunch already ordered for the office, like the whole thing. I was gonna show him a new product. I mean, a lot was riding on this. I had to cancel and I sat there for, you know, an hour waiting for a tow truck to come and tow me. Then I had to go get towed to some random dealership to have them fix the fender because I couldn't go anywhere.
Oh, by the way, it also slashed my tire. So I had to get that repaired. It was like a whole day of just, you gotta be joking me. And not only did I not do what I set out to do that day, but my whole entire day was thrown. I will tell you what I did instead, Cindy is, first of all, you always need to have your computer with you.
So I sat down while I waited hours upon hours, and I did emails. I mean, of course I called them immediately to let them know I wasn't coming. I rescheduled that they got lunch and they were great and you know, happy for that. But the point is, is like you have to be flexible. I mean, I know that there's a lot of different.
Examples of being flexible, but that's one that throws your entire day off. Now, if I had been headed there for a case and the same thing happened, well guess what? I'd be on the phone calling somebody to last minute, either run the case for me or I'd be doing it over FaceTime. I mean, it is what it is. You have to be flexible because life happens and or doctor cancels on you.
I mean, there's a million things. You just have to learn how to be flexible and not get so. Out of your own mind that you can't now pivot and change and go to the next thing on that list.
Cynthia Ficara: That was such a great story. Life happens. You, you said it. And if we let it paralyze us, it doesn't do any good. And.
You did everything right. Okay? You accept it. And honestly, you never know. Maybe there was a divine reason why you couldn't be there. You know? And it's setting you up that they understand you were coming to see them. They know that you were held. Up by out of your control. It was completely out of your control.
But what you had the chance to do is to make a choice to control the rest of your day or let it control you and you did a great job. And I think that's really important because we do get beat down when things, and that's kind of scary too. Then it's, then you're like, oh my God, how much is this gonna cost?
And then I gotta take care of this. And just the it does, it weighs on you. We are all human. Again, this is about alignment, but if you can just accept it. Control what you can control, make the use of your day. Then you get to go back and have that call and you never know. Maybe they'll be more ready to listen to you anyway.
Great point. Get that in your 20% bucket. Exactly.
Anneliese Rhodes: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Actually, no, that's great. Lemme finish the story. I ended up going back and meeting with that doc and he did use my product for the very first time and he loved it and it was a great, it was a great outcome and it actually was a case where he had tried other vendors and it didn't work, and my product really.
So it was actually a really great, yeah, I, I was able to reschedule that lunch pretty quickly. Um, and we did the case like two weeks later. But, um, but yeah, I mean, it, it totally turned out to be a fantastic situation. Not at the time, but, you know, two weeks later. I mean, at the time I was losing my ever loving mind.
Uh, and lots of curse words were coming out of my mouth, but, you know, it's what it is. Alright, so moving on. This one I need help with.
Cynthia Ficara: You and me both. Number
Anneliese Rhodes: four. Yeah, number four. And I think most women and even men, I mean, I think we all. Struggle with this because our jobs can be consuming. They can be overwhelmingly consuming and we forget that we need to have self-care and take breaks and you know, what does that mean?
I mean, self-care can mean something different to you versus what it means to me. You know, if you don't, if you're struggling to find that time in the day. Even five minutes of just sitting in the car and mentally taking a break from everything and just breathing. There are so many meditation apps out there that you can literally hit and do a 52nd or 92nd meditation or breathing exercises and the amount of.
Relaxation or just release of pent up energy that it'll help you with is insane. And I don't do this enough. And I think that when we get really overwhelmed with all the things, we feel like we don't have time, but we do. You know, you have 90 seconds.
Cynthia Ficara: Yes. And if you wanna take it a step further, so the funny thing is, Lisa knows.
So here it is, like Sunday evening and we push this back a little bit because I had a massage today. Now I joined this place where you can pay for the month and you get, I think it's like 10 or 20% off each massage. So. I did it to force myself to get a once a month massage because I was switching roles, kind of doing my old job, doing my new job, and still helping out with a lot.
So I, I've had a really full year. We all ebb and flow in our jobs. This has been a very busy, busy year for me. So I go to pay and she says, okay, well, you know, with it was an hour massage and with the credit it came to like $94 or something. She goes, however, you have $541 in credits. I'm like, so I really haven't been here.
$541 because it comes out automatically each month. That's how long I kept changing my appointment. Could I made excuse. I was like, okay. So actually when I left there, I said Enough, and I was like, I made an appointment for two more Sundays. I already made May's appointment. I already made June's appointment because good for you.
I am now. Taking now that's, that's like really good self-care. But you know, on a Sunday if I just take an hour to myself, it set me up better. Like, I'm kind of excited for Monday morning, tomorrow when we get rocking and rolling. But you could do the simple things like Lisa said, but my gosh, I need to take my own advice and action.
One is prioritized and I haven't prioritized myself, but I know I can be so much better if I do. 'cause I already feel good for this week. So watch out team. I'm in a really good mood.
Anneliese Rhodes: I love that. And you know, and, and. As you're sitting there think, as you're sitting there telling me that, I'm thinking, well, what about all those women that have little kids at home that are like, I can't leave.
I've got kids, I've got basketball, I've got football, I've got cheerleading, I've got horseback riding. I've got swim, I've got this, I've got that. But you do have that time and if you, if your husband is busy or your partner is busy. Get a nanny, hire a babysitter, have friend babysitter, have a friend, have a friend, best ever neighbors.
I mean, there are multiple sources that you can pull from. It's one hour or maybe an hour and a half when you, you factor in the driving out of your, out of your day that you are giving back to yourself so that you can give to others better. Because the truth is mm-hmm. And you know this very well, Cindy, when we get run down.
The first people that it comes out on are our family, and those are the last people that we wanted to come out on. 'cause that's why we we're doing this job, because we wanna spend more time with them, right? Yep. So it's like, okay, we need to be better at our time. We need to be better at our management of, you know, prioritizing what's important.
And you, yourself are important as well. Not just your customers, not just you. You know the people in your life, but you yourself. And if you don't prioritize yourself when the wheels fall off, which is you. The only person that can help you put those wheels back on is you, and if you don't have anything left in the tank to do it.
You're SOL. So I think it's so important and I'm proud of you for doing that, and that that's not an easy thing. It sounds easy, but it's really not easy. Things come up. I,
Prioritizing Self-Care Without Guilt
Cynthia Ficara: I would say the first 10, 15 years, when my kids were little, I just felt guilty leaving them. And I think what I need to say is that it took me getting older to give myself time back. And that's one regret. So if you have little kids, just find little kids love babysitters. Like my kids used to love when a babysitter came because it's fun, exciting. You find a teenager, they can play. Play with, and it's just a short time. But that is something I did not do for myself that I'm learning now.
So I advise all of you, it's just, just take an hour, it will, it will give you return in alignment to manage your day. I promise. Yeah. All right, Lisa, our fifth one.
Anneliese Rhodes: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, reflection and adjustment, and what do we mean by that? Regular reflection and adjustment, so. To me, what does that mean? It means, you know, you gotta, you gotta look back and you gotta make sure you're still achieving what you want, what you set out to achieve.
Maybe that's reverse engineering. Maybe, you know, your, your goal was, I wanna land this customer. Um, are you doing all this? Steps to get to landing that customer. Are you making the calls? Are you doing the lunches? Are you setting up the in services? Are you doing the things that you're supposed to be doing?
And if you're missing out, maybe you got deterred. Maybe you did have a flat tire and you missed out on that lunch. And then, oh, by the way, 10 cases packed on. So now you forgot about the lunch with that new customer that you were trying to get, which was, in essence a cold call that can fall off a list pretty quickly when things start piling up.
So you have to be able to regularly look at this list of prioritizations and remind yourself of the things that you have not done or that have fallen off the list that you need to circle back and do.
Cynthia Ficara: This is also really, really important that you do an honest reflection. You know, nobody is, this is not a Scantron that you are submitting, that spits out a a report.
You have to honestly reflect what you're doing for yourself, because if you don't answer honestly, you can't adjust and align yourself correctly. And that is so key. Ask yourself the difficult questions. Get rid of the guilt. Accept where you are. Control what you could control and then move forward. So I think these five actionable steps are just to real quickly summarize hands down prioritization.
That's the 80 20 rule. Number two, goal setting. Number three, flexibility. Number four, self-care and breaks and number. Five, reflection of yourself. And that's an honest reflection. And I think that when you put all these aspects together, you could really foster that positive mindset because it'll set you up for effective time management.
And you know, you won't have to feel so strict and disciplined and structured when it just flows and you're motivated and you're happy, and then you give to everybody. It is. Such an amazing feeling. So we really, really want to challenge you all in this power play number eight of time management. So I want every one of you to think of one thing today that you can put as a prioritization on your list into that 20%.
Let us know if you get a return, because I guarantee if you do these things, you will be tenfold productive in your day.
